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This article aims to identify and explain some of the characteristic features of the style of social criticism that Veblen pioneered. In order to do so, it first sets aside several of the misconceptions that have arisen about his work. The first concerns its generality. Veblen must be understood not merely as a critic of an obsolete “aristocratic” pattern of upper-class consumption, but rather as the progenitor of a general theory of the relationship between class, status, private property, and social inequality. The second major misunderstanding of Veblen's work arises from the assumption...

This article aims to identify and explain some of the characteristic features of the style of social criticism that Veblen pioneered. In order to do so, it first sets aside several of the misconceptions that have arisen about his work. The first concerns its generality. Veblen must be understood not merely as a critic of an obsolete “aristocratic” pattern of upper-class consumption, but rather as the progenitor of a general theory of the relationship between class, status, private property, and social inequality. The second major misunderstanding of Veblen's work arises from the assumption that he is engaged in moralizing social criticism. On the contrary, Veblen shared with both Marx and Freud the desire to refrain from making simple value judgments.